Arts & Culture

Lynne Rosenthal: Bagel Ordering Hero

A friend once showed me their Starbucks training manuel that told them to "train the customers," and make sure they learn to order the Starbucks way: tall, grande, venti, etc. Since that day, I’ve made a point that when I … Read More

A friend once showed me their Starbucks training manuel that told them to "train the customers," and make sure they learn to order the Starbucks way: tall, grande, venti, etc.

Since that day, I’ve made a point that when I order a "large" coffee, and the barista asks, "venti coffee?" I always make sure to say, "yes, large coffee."

I try my hardest to not to battle with baristas; I’ve worked behind many coffee shop counters, I know how crappy most customers can be. But damn whatever corporate suit thinks he’s going to treat me like a dog and train me to order "the Starbucks way."

So this morning, I smiled reading about Lynne Rosenthal, an English ph.D who did a service for the entire world, by telling Starbucks that it’s fine if they serve us burnt tasting coffee, and it’s fine if they want to try and put better, smaller coffee shops out of business (actually, it’s not okay), but damn you green mermaid if you think you’re going to tell Dr. Rorsenthal how to order a bagel!

"I just wanted a multigrain bagel," Rosenthal told The Post. "I refused to say ‘without butter or cheese.’ When you go to Burger King, you don’t have to list the six things you don’t want.

"Linguistically, it’s stupid, and I’m a stickler for correct English."

Not 100% sure what the logic behind that was, but somehow things got heated enough that according to Gawker, it took a police escort to get the good doctor out of the Upper West Side Starbucks.

Bless you Lynne Rosenthal, you’re a great American hero this morning. This one goes out to you.